Race hate trial puts leader of far right ahead in polls

Geert Wilders, leader of the far right in the Netherlands, is topping opinion polls after a surge in popularity caused by his appearance at a race hate trial.

The anti-Muslim and Eurosceptic founder of the Party for Freedom was slipping in the polls ahead of elections in March until his court case began at the end of October.

Mr Wilders’s close allies in Austria are level in polls before a presidential election on Sunday, creating fears that Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party could beat the centrist candidate Alexander Van der Bellen.

Judges will decide next week whether Mr Wilders should be fined €5,000 on two charges of inciting hatred. Mr Wilders had boycotted the trial but attended on the final day last week…